<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>he's my best friend, best of all best friends by murderousCroww</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28408356">he's my best friend, best of all best friends</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/murderousCroww/pseuds/murderousCroww'>murderousCroww</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Best Friends, First Meetings, Gavin Reed Has ADHD, Gavin Reed Not Being an Asshole, Gen, Grade Nine Orientation, High School, My First Work in This Fandom, Oh my god I love these two so much, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Self-Indulgent, Tina Chen &amp; Gavin Reed Friendship, clutches my chest and weeps gently (in a good way), tina is a jojos bizarre adventure stan bc i said so</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:07:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,837</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28408356</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/murderousCroww/pseuds/murderousCroww</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She was so fucking nice, she was the only person Gavin trusted in this fucked up world because he knew she was the only person who wouldn’t hurt him.</p><p>(aka gavin and tina being besties for 1.8k words)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tina Chen &amp; Gavin Reed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>he's my best friend, best of all best friends</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tina stood at the entrance of a high school, <em> her </em> high school as of September 2016. It was only August right now so she still technically wasn’t a freshman just yet, but she felt like one. It was orientation today, all the new ninth graders under one roof to learn the ins and outs of the school and play games and meet new friends. Tina had her class schedule gripped tightly in her hands, folded and unfolded a million times during the car ride over, as it told her which group she was in for orientation. Tina watched as kids were walked to the doors by their parents, talked on the phone or met up with their friends they hadn’t seen since eighth grade. She was a little bit nervous, a feeling she didn’t experience all that frequently. It wasn’t the people that had her anxious though, she loved to meet new people, but it was still a new school, a new building she knew nothing about. She was overwhelmed, just a bit, but knew she would overcome it quickly. So, she took a deep breath and walked through the front doors.</p><p>Gavin sat on the bleachers among the other kids from his orientation group. He had already paid his student fee and mumbled out a “hello” to the kids he recognized from middle school so all he had to do now was wait. He didn’t really want to be here at this stupid orientation and he didn’t want to play any stupid get-to-know-you games but his dad hadn’t given him much of a choice. All Gavin got was an envelope full of cash and a piece of paper with his classes on it shoved into his hands before being ushered into the backseat of his dad’s car with hardly enough time to slip on his light grey Converse. Gavin didn’t have time to protest as he was being dropped off outside his new high school with barely a goodbye from his dad. Gavin sucked it up, as much as he could, as headed to the gym for the orientation. He could’ve just dipped and wasted the cash on food or something, but if his mom or dad found out he spent the money on something other than school he probably would’ve never been able to go out unattended with money ever again. Now he was slouched in his seat, hands stuffed into the pocket of his ratty brown hoodie as he tried his very best to just be invisible. The gym was loud, the energy high and honestly Gavin was way too exhausted for this shit, his parents arguing kept him up again last night. He let his eyes slide shut for a moment of rest, desperately trying to stop the headache that he knew was coming.</p><p>Tina made her way to the gym, double checking her schedule for the fifth time since entering the building as if the ink on the paper would magically disappear at any second. She was in group 18 and she repeated the number over and over in her head in hopes of remembering it. Once she entered the gym she scanned the numbered sections of the bleachers that lined the left side of the room. Group 18 was on the lower section of bleachers, which Tina was thankful for since she didn’t know how to get up to the upper level. She made her way through the crowd, ducking and weaving through freshmen and upperclassmen alike before finding an empty spot on the bleachers next to a very tired looking 14 year old. At least she assumed he was 14 considering he was sitting with the other freshmen. His eyes were closed and the hood of his oversized, brown hoodie was up and shadowed his face ever so slightly. There were prominent bags under his eyes which made him look years older than Tina assumed he was. It looked like he was doing everything in his power to disappear. Tina studied his face carefully for a moment, noting the softness of his jawline and the small acne scars before the boy noticed that someone was staring at him and opened his eyes.</p><p>“Can I help you?” He asked, his voice dripped with mock politeness, mimicking the way annoyed retail workers talked to customers. Tina was only slightly taken aback by his tone before barrelling on with the conversation.</p><p>“Hey! I’m Tina!” Tina introduced herself with a beaming smile. The boy squinted his eyes suspiciously.</p><p>“I’m Gavin.” The boy mumbled in reply. He spoke so low that Tina barely caught it over the commotion of the gym.</p><p>“Great to meet you, Gavin! Are you excited for orientation?” Tina didn’t allow her smile to falter, deciding to be cheerful enough for both of them.</p><p>“I literally rather be anywhere else,” Gavin replied as he sunk deeper into his hoodie, Tina wasn’t aware that was even possible. Tina just nudged him with her shoulder.</p><p>“Stick with me, then, I’ll make orientation exciting,” Tina promised with a wink which got the corner of Gavin’s mouth to quirk up a minuscule amount. Tina took this as a minor victory as she decided that her next mission was to make Gavin laugh.</p><p>Tina did indeed make orientation exciting when, during lunch, she laughed so hard that milk came out of her nose. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Holy shit, Ti.” Gavin half laughed, half choked on the Coke he was drinking, desperately trying to regain his composure. Tina just smiled proudly. It was senior year now and even though the two of them had known each other for about four years, Tina’s chest still swelled with pride when she got <em> the </em>Gavin Reed to laugh at her stupid stories. Tina was the only person Gavin laughed around, like a real genuine laugh instead of his usual snorts or light hearted chuckles. Tina, and only Tina, could make Gavin howl with laughter so loud that Tina’s sister would bang on the wall to get him to shut up.</p><p>“I know right?” Tina said while Gavin sputtered and coughed, “What the hell was I supposed to do in a situation like that?”</p><p>“Obviously not <em> sucker punch </em>him!” Gavin shouted after he had recovered.</p><p>“I was told he was a threat!”  Tina defended herself which caused Gavin to be burst into laughter again. Tina started to laugh too, the energy in the room buzzing and contagious. They were in Tina’s bedroom, eating pizza and drinking vanilla Coke like they do every Saturday night. The two were sitting shoulder to shoulder leaning against the head, the box of pizza sitting on top of their thighs.</p><p>“Whatever, he totally deserved it regardless, did you hear about how he treated Sarah?” Tina asked before promptly shoving a piece of pizza into her mouth.</p><p>“No, but I assume you’re going to tell me anyway.”</p><p>“Obviously!” Tina grinned before launching into detail about Sarah and some guy named Anthony’s breakup. She talked animatedly and quickly, moving her hands so wildly that she accidentally hit Gavin in the face not once but twice. Gavin looked at Tina, his eyes were soft as he watched his best friend explain that this Anthony dude was actually <em> cheating </em>on Sarah but it was kind of okay because Sarah had just realized she was a lesbian. Tina was the only person in the world that got to see Gavin with his walls down, part of the perks of knowing each other for seemingly forever. </p><p>Tina had seen Gavin at his worst, she was right by his side when his parents got divorced and in return, Gavin had seen Tina at her most stressed out and high strung. Tina was the first person who wasn’t afraid of Gavin and Gavin wasn’t overwhelmed by Tina’s slightly overbearing nature. The two complemented each other beautifully. Gavin was a ground for Tina, taking her down a notch when she goes over the top or is about to do something impulsive while Tina pushed Gavin out of his shell. Gavin had carefully constructed walls to avoid getting hurt and yet Tina came along and effortlessly knocked them all down just by being there, just by sticking by Gavin’s side. Gavin couldn’t imagine anyone but her putting up with his shit and sometimes he didn’t even comprehend why she stayed. Gavin was a mess, an emotionally repressed teenager who was just barely passing high school because his ADHD was borderline impossible to deal with and Tina was so… not that. Tina was smart, kind and so very selfless. She wanted to help people, make the world that’s why she wanted to become a detective. Love came so easily to Tina, like her heart was too big for her own chest, whereas Gavin couldn’t trust himself to love. People liked Tina, people did <em> not </em>like Gavin and Gavin was the only person to blame for that.</p><p>“Gav, babes, did you space out a bit?” Tina nudged Gavin’s shoulder with her own, just like she did on grade nine orientation day all those years ago. She didn’t sound mad, just curious.</p><p>“Yeah sorry I was thinking,” Gavin said vaguely as he busied himself finishing off the last little bit of his Coke.</p><p>“Do you wanna talk about something else?” Tina asked and Gavin’s heart swelled. She was so fucking nice, she was the only person Gavin trusted in this fucked up world because he knew she was the only person who wouldn’t hurt him.</p><p>“Whatever you want, Ti.” Gavin shrugged casually, trying not to start crying like a baby over his best friend. Tina grinned downright evilly which made Gavin raise his eyebrows slightly.</p><p>“Jojo.” That was all Tina said before she lunged for the remote to her TV. Gavin scrambled to get there before her.</p><p>“Wait that’s not what I-” </p><p>“Nope!” Tina said, popping the p, “It’s too late, we are watching Jojo!” Tina ended up beating Gavin to the remote and quickly selected an episode from part three before he protested. Gavin leaned back against the headboard and crossed his arms in a huff. He was only pretending to be annoyed, he didn’t actually mind watching Jojo with Tina especially since he knows how much she loved it. It wasn’t even that half bad of a show, honestly, and he really just loved spending any time with Tina at all, regardless of what they were doing.</p><p>The two of them got through four episodes before Tina fell asleep on Gavin’s shoulder. Gavin carefully moved off the bed, cautious to not wake Tina, and cleaned up the empty pizza box and Coke bottles. He gently repositioned Tina so that she was lying down before draping a blanket over her and then moved to where he was sleeping (also known as the floor of Tina’s bedroom). For once in his life Gavin wasn’t worried about keeping up appearances, he wasn’t concerned about what people would think if they got too close to him and he actually fell asleep into a semi-peaceful slumber.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>story title comes from best friend by toy-box because that song makes me so happy.<br/>this fic was v self indulgent bc i love tina and based her on my best friend (hence the jojo stuff). i just think that the reason tina and gavin are so close is because they became friends before gavin got really fucked over by the world, aka before he became the bitter, aggressive asshole that you see in game. he's still moody and closed off in his teenage years, but he's also lonely and seeking comfort from someone but doesnt think he deserves comfort because he pushes everyone away. tina stays!! tina puts up with gavin's bullshit and teaches gavin that he still deserves love. sorry for rambling i just have a lot of feelings about gavin reed....<br/>if this gets a good enough reception i will write a second chapter &gt;:)</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>